Transportation systems and networks are vital in our society. Business shipments, product deliveries, and commuters, are just a few examples of the thousands of uses of our transportation systems. It is well known that these systems are often delayed due to accidents, particularly ones that rely on automotive routes. These delays cause traffic build-ups that result in much wasted time and frustration.
On-scene investigations are time consuming and are not always accurate. Often, investigators must rely on witness statements and approximations to assess the events leading up to the accident and to determine who is at fault. It is therefore difficult to guarantee the correctness of these assessments.
Insurance companies use these assessments to determine who must pay for the damage after an accident has occurred. Incorrect assessments lead to thousands of dollars being spent unnecessarily by the insurance companies whose clients were not at fault.
Clearly, a system capable of recording, reproducing and analyzing information pertaining to an accident is very valuable. Traffic delays due to accident investigations could be decreased since less investigation time would be required. Investigations would be much more accurate since the system will provide precise data prior to, during, and after the accident. Additionally, insurance companies will benefit due to improved investigation assessments. Other devices have been proposed as visual/non-visual vehicular data recorders, however, they fall short in several areas.
Numerous vehicular data recording systems have been proposed which combine audio/video data, and vehicle performance data. Examples include U.S. Pat. No. 6,389,340 to Rayner, U.S. Pat. No. 6,246,933 to Baque, US Patent 2002/135,679 to Scaman, U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,290 to Takeshi, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,463 to Michetti. Each of these systems are primarily data logging systems, in which the data recording process is triggered by a sudden vehicle acceleration or other accident-anticipation system. Some systems, such as the one proposed in US Patent 2002/105,438 to Forbes et al., also make use of basic biometric signals to anticipate an accident or incident that should be recorded. Upon triggering of the recording mechanism, some of these systems attempt to transfer the video and vehicular data to a form of non-volatile memory. However, many of these systems, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,463 to Michetti and US Patent 2002/135,679 to Scaman, are restricted to auxiliary memory devices such as tapes and hard disks. Some systems, such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,141,611 to Mackey et al., automatically transfer the collected data to a remote central data system for distribution to authorized parties. Viewing of the recorded information requires the use of cumbersome external hardware or physical extraction of the storage medium. In addition, these systems rely largely on analysis of the vehicle data by trained personnel, and provide minimal interface capabilities for an automobile owner.
The previously discussed patent documents suggest systems that record primarily vehicle performance/status data, and video data. No occupant data is explicitly recorded. Rather, extraction of meaningful occupant data (e.g. number of occupants, occupant position, occupant size) can only be gathered through expert, post-incident analysis of the video data.
Most existing video recording systems require multiple conventional cameras, often placed in intrusive locations within the vehicle compartment. The patent documents discussed above makes no use of the visual data to infer occupant position, to anticipate eccentric conditions, or to determine the nature of the vehicle's occupants.
Existing patents suggest systems with minimal in-vehicle interfaces. Interface to the recorded data is limited primarily to post-incident analysis by trained personnel using specialized hardware and software. Existing offline interface systems often require qualified personnel to analyze the captured data in order to reconstruct the sequence of events prior to an accident or other incident.
Other systems currently in use are meant for the purpose of surveillance and tracking certain vehicles. These systems are either mountable on a fixed structure such as traffic signals or bridges or on a building near an intersection. The portable systems are usually mounted on law enforcement vehicles and are again used for the purpose of surveillance and monitoring other vehicles.